How to use the Google Password Manager

Keeping your passwords safe and secure is crucial: They’re what unlock all of your digital accounts, from email clients to social media apps to payment services, and these are places where you don’t want unwelcome visitors wandering around.

In the modern age, most of us have dozens of these accounts at least—but to maintain high levels of security, you need passwords that are unique and lengthy, which gives you the problem of having to remember them all.

The fix is using a password manager, which remembers all your logins for you (and even helps you invent strong passwords). There are plenty to choose from, but here we’ll take a look at the Google Password Manager, which is free to use and works on most devices.

Finding and setting up Google Password Manager

The obvious place to start with the Google Password Manager, if you’re completely new to it, is inside Google Chrome on the desktop. On any open tab, click the three dots (top right), then choose Passwords and Autofill > Google Password Manager. From here you can view and edit passwords, check for weak and duplicated passwords, and configure how the Google Password Manager works inside Chrome.

Click Settings, then Offer to save passwords and passkeys—this means Chrome will remember your logins in the future. You can also import passwords from another password manager, if needed, from the same screen. Once your passwords have been remembered, you can enable Sign in automatically to speed up the sign-in process when you land on a recognized site.

That sets you up for Chrome on your computer, but to get at your passwords from any device, you need to sync all of this information to your Google account. From a Chrome tab, click the three dots (top right), then Settings > You and Google. If you’re not already signed into Google, you can do that here, and click Sync and Google services > Manage what you sync to sync passwords to the cloud and other devices.

You’re up and running, but there are other places to get at the Google Password Manager. There’s actually a web interface that closely mirrors the interface you get inside Chrome—but you can get at it in any web browser or in Chrome when you’re not signed into your Google account (on someone else’s laptop, maybe).

As you would expect, Google Password Manager is tightly integrated into Android. From Settings, choose Passwords, passkeys and accounts (Pixel phones), or Security and privacy > More security settings > Passwords, passkeys, and autofill (Galaxy phones). Set up Google Password Manager here, and your passwords will be saved and retrieved for recognized apps on Android as well as inside Chrome.

Google Chrome for Android comes with the Google Password Manager too, of course, for websites—just make sure you’re signed into the same Google account that’s associated with your passwords. Tap the three dots (top right) on any tab, then Settings and Google Password Manager to get at your passwords.

You can get at the Google Password Manager on an iPhone too, but the integration isn’t quite as comprehensive, and you need Google Chrome for iOS installed. From any open tab inside the mobile browser, tap the three dots (bottom right), then Password Manager. You can also head to iOS Settings, and choose General > Autofill & Passwords, and enable Chrome—this means you’ll be able to sign into iOS apps outside Chrome using your saved credentials (though you won’t be able to save new credentials).

Managing login credentials in Google Password Manager

After you have Google Password Manager up and running on all your devices, everything should run pretty smoothly: Every time you log into a website or app for the first time, you’ll be asked if you want to save the login information (and you’ll see another prompt if you update your password). When you open a website or app that’s recognized, Google Password Manager jumps in and supplies the details.

There are a few more tricks to know about, which we’ll cover in relation to the web app—though the same options are available wherever you can get at the Google Password Manager. Log into the web interface, and you can either search for a site or app, or just scroll through the list. Click on any entry to see login information.

The options on the next screen let you copy a password to the clipboard, add a note to it (handy for organizing lots of passwords), edit the password manually, or delete it from the list entirely—which is a good idea for apps and sites you no longer use, or in instances where the password manager has created a duplicate for some reason.

At the top of the Google Password Manager front screen, and on the individual listings pages, you’ll see warnings about weak passwords, duplicate passwords, and passwords that have been exposed in data leaks. Whenever you see one of these warnings, it’s a good idea to follow the instructions for changing your password as soon as you can.